BERLIN, May 11 (Reuters) – Volkswagen’s U.S. brand Scout was designed from the start to pursue a potential stock market listing or to allow strategic investors to take a stake, its CEO Scott Keogh told daily Handelsblatt, as it explores new funding options.
• Scout was deliberately set up as a stand-alone entity, Keogh said. Outside capital was “an option that is on the table”, Keogh said in the interview with the German business newspaper
• Keogh pointed to U.S. investment funds focused on what he called the country’s “industrial renaissance”, without naming specific investors
• Volkswagen wants to use Scout to increase its small U.S. market share, but internal doubts have grown over launching a new electric unit at a time of weakening demand, Handelsblatt said
• Keogh said that the bet on robust trucks and SUVs with so‑called range extenders had paid off, adding that 87% of more than 170,000 pre-orders were for that drive type, according to the paper
• Production of a new Audi model on Scout’s flexible platform was also possible, Keogh told the paper
(Reporting by Kirsti KnolleEditing by Ludwig Burger)